Slow Cooker Pulled Pork with Beer

Add a little extra something to your pulled pork! This one is as easy as ever and will quickly become a favorite.

Most pulled pork recipes call for cooking the pork in a slow cooker with something like apple cider vinegar, soda, or worse yet, water with a little salt and pepper until the meat is tender. Don’t do it!

Cooking the meat in beer gives it that special something extra, that wonderful flavor. The question now is, what kind of beer? A simple can of bottom-shelf lager will do the trick, but you can dress it up even more with a stout, or an IPA to give the final product a deeper, richer flavor.

There are plenty of variations, and extra spices you can add, but here’s the quick-and-easy BoozeHub way to get ‘er done:

1.Put a two-pound hunk of boneless pork shoulder into the slow cooker. There is some debate about whether other cuts will work, and they do: I’ve taken advantage of grocery store sales on pork tenderloin that are just too good to pass up, and so long as it’s cooked long enough in plenty of liquid, the result is just fine.

2.Take two 12-ounce bottles of IPA. Pour one over the meat. Drink the other one. Let it cook in the slow cooker until the meat pulls apart easily, depending on your slow cooker, about six hours.

3.Drain most of the beer out of the slow cooker, reserving a little on the bottom to keep the meat moist.

4.Pull the meat apart with a fork. Take another 12-ounce bottle of IPA. Pour it in a chilled glass and drink it.

5.Add plenty of Sweet Baby Ray’s barbecue sauce (or your own favorite) and let cook for another two hours.